9 Great Instagram Accounts

Oh my god, thank you so much for this. That was exactly my upbringing, too; tack on two parents who fought all the time – I still get anxiety over the smallest conflict. I am learning now, as a married, 28 year-old, how to safely disagree. It’s so hard. It is still deeply engrained in me that I’m not allowed to fight for myself or ask for what I need; but learning this work is the most freeing thing I can do.

@brownskinmatters is everything missing from my med school dermatology class: people with melanin!

@theconsciouskid is really really awesome, book recommendations to expand consciousness for kids re POC, + thoughtful dialogue about racism

I’m with you. I gave up Facebook 8 years ago and it changed my life. After a very toxic experience with Instagram this past Fall I gave that up too and my mental health has skyrocketed. I think social media without the social element is likely fine but is otherwise really dangerous.

this reply isn’t directly to Celeste, but rather this thread (which is very thoughtful).
i have some complicated feelings about social media. on one hand, i think it’s played a large part in the crumbling of our democracy. i also personally think it’s unhealthy in many ways.
on the other hand, i also use it in the way Kate does. #hygge is a great hashtag to follow, as well as other ones like #jungalow and #dscolor. i find scrolling through Instagram relaxing – and i also find it educational! accounts like @brownissues and @theconsciouskid are wonderful. i also love seeing pics of friends and their kids that i don’t get to see often in real life, and of course i love Joanna’s account :)
disclaimer, i run the social accounts for an art organization, and i always hope that we’re part of the enjoyable side of feeds for our followers. the best compliment is when i tell someone where i work and they say, “i love your instagram feed!” sometimes you don’t know where your work is going and it feels so good to know you’re putting a smile on someone’s face.

I second a social media usage post! I’d like to know how/why/what others consume and their feelings surrounding that usage. I gave up Facebook in 2017, after being on there since 2006. The end came when I saw people justifying running over protesters in the streets. My heart just could not take seeing that. In April 2019, I gave up IG when Alabama was considering prosecuting a woman who had miscarried and the abortion debate caught fire (again!). I was spun out, trying to right every wrong and being a keyboard warrior. It was so hard to give up because we’d just finished building our dream home after years of planning and I wanted to document and share. I also love sharing my kids with family and friends and keeping up with everyone. But it became detrimental to my mental health and took time away from my family and other interests. If you choose to drop social media, prepare yourself for real withdrawal-like symptoms- I swear I didn’t know what to do with myself for like 2 weeks until I forged new paths. I also found I took less pictures in 2019, since my phone wasn’t in my hand and I wasn’t itching to share anything. Posts like this make me miss IG so much, but just not enough to give up my free time, my observations of the world, and all the reading I can now accomplish.

Laura – I was the same as you. Many times I tried to cut back my social media usage or take breaks, and when I did I felt disconnected and always broke my rules or went right back on. The facts that I was never able to stick to the parameters I set for myself, eventually made me realize I wasn’t in control of it. 8 months ago I deleted everything cold turkey in a moment of willpower/desperation (lol). The first week was really rough. After the first week, it started to get easier. After a month I genuinely stopped missing it at all and I felt like a fog had been cleared from my brain. A few weeks of cold turkey gave me enough mental clarity and distance from it to realize how bad it was for my brain (not saying that’s true of everyone but it was for me!). I was a heavy user and expected to miss it a lot and it’s been 8 months now and I can tell you I literally never miss it and don’t feel tempted to go back.

” It also made me realize that I can’t give that sort of dedicated work to every person in my life, and I have had to think about which relationships I want to nurture with my limited time and energy.”
+1,000,000
Since leaving the socials my mental bandwidth is so much greater and I fill it with genuine interests that feed my soul (reading, lunches and coffees, cooking, self reflection, etc) instead of mindlessly consuming what someone threw up on their insta that day. I’m not interested in people branding themselves and my relationships are deeper and more genuine when we exchange goings-on in person or over a chatty email rather than curated pics and random info.

Someone mentioned a fog lifting and that’s EXACTLY what it felt like when I broke away from insta. I also feel so much more in control of how I want people to know me and what they should know. Privacy seems the last standing commodity.

All that said, I had to have my husband change my password to shut down my account with a promise to not give it to me. Once two or so weeks had passed the urge to engage in it at all is gone and I feel so much more present in my own life and the life of my kids. I’m more connected to myself and how I want my life to unfold. And the people in my life are there with intent. Highly recommend!!!